


No One to Nothing

by colethemoon



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Music Store, M/M, Social Anxiety, Yam likes to play guitar and Tsukki works in a music shop, the title comes from a mother mother song i am sorry, welcome to the nerd parade
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-17 05:13:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5855470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colethemoon/pseuds/colethemoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yamaguchi is a mediocre guitar player and needs his strings replaced. Tsukishima works at the local music store, and is kind of a dick about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No One to Nothing

The local music store was actually just a little shop on the other side of town, but Yamaguchi had been there once before and as such had developed a sense of familiarity that the mall in his neighborhood just couldn't compete with. Plus he wasn't sure if those other shops sold strings. The reason he'd only been there once before was that the last time he'd needed to buy strings, he had spilled coffee not only on himself, the floor, and five of their instruments but also on the shop assistant who had in no uncertain terms told him never to come back again if he didn't want to have to pay off any more damage to their instruments and his starched white shirt.

Yet here he was.

  
Oh, familiarity, you traitor.

  
Yamaguchi eased the door open, hoping that the little bell at the top of it wouldn't ring too loudly, drawing attention to his presence. He forgot that this store didn't actually _have_ a little bell, but instead an automatic alarm triggered by a sensor that alerts everyone in that square mile of land that you have entered the music store. That was his first mistake.

  
As the alarm blared out a dolorous rendition of “You Keyed My Car at 3AM and I Can't Make It Stop”, Yamaguchi's wide-eyed stare traveled the length of the store, checking to make sure nobody was paying attention. Thankfully, the shop assistant was busy with another customer, and the store was otherwise empty.

  
Yamaguchi attempted to gather his thoughts. He rubbed at his forearms to make the tingling sensation he felt in his veins go away. After some time, the other customer payed for her things and left, leaving him alone with the judgmental eyes of the shop assistant now fixed on him. It was too early. He was this close to running out and asking the woman to come back, please, he needed more time to think and besides, was she really sure she got everything she needed?

  
That's because Yamaguchi's second mistake was not writing down exactly what kinds of strings he needed to buy so he could read the words off a piece of paper instead of trusting his brain to think them up on the spot. It had been two years since he had last bought strings, and yes he knew that the change was way overdue, but in his defense they hadn't snapped yet and also this was a really small music store and he was afraid the shop assistant would remember the Great Coffee Fiasco of '13.

  
Still, two years was two years, and surely by now the sands of time will have granted him the sweet respite of oblivion.

  
The shop assistant – Tsukishima, his name tag said – settled into an almost imperceptible smirk as he asked Yamaguchi what it was he needed. _Crap_ , thought Yamaguchi, _does he know? Does he remember? Is that tiny sliver of amusement on his face aimed at the –_

  
“-Uh, strings,” he mumbled, interrupting his train of thought before it went off the rails.

  
Tsukishima just looked at Yamaguchi, waiting for him to elaborate.

  
“I need to buy strings. For my guitar.”

  
Tsukishima sighed. “What kind of strings do you need?”

  
“Um, extra light.”

  
“Which strings? What brand?”

  
_Brand? What brand were my old strings?_

  
“Brand? Um, any brand. I need to replace all of the strings, so....” As he spoke, Tsukishima rummaged around behind the counter, searching through the string packets.

  
“What kind of guitar do you play? Acoustic? Classical?”

  
_Yamaguchi Tadashi, you know this one. You play an acoustic guitar. Go on. Say it. Don't just repeat the last thing he said._

  
Tsukishima raised his eyebrows.

  
“Classical!”

  
_God damn it._

  
Tsukishima plucked one packet out of the pile and held it out toward Yamaguchi. “These are probably the ones you're looking for,” he said, a slight hint of condescension in his voice. Yamaguchi, still processing his failure from thirty seconds ago, did nothing. The shop assistant put the strings down on the counter and rang them up. He packed them into a neat, blue plastic bag. “Need anything else?” he deadpanned.

  
Yamaguchi regained his senses long enough to assure him that no, that was all he needed today, and to pay for his purchase. He took the little bag and began squirming towards the direction of the door. Tsukishima rudely interrupted his getaway by clearing his voice.

  
“Oh, and those are pretty good strings, so as a personal favor to me, do try not to get any coffee on them.”

  
Right then, a strange mixture of terror and something resembling fury broiled inside Yamaguchi as he stammered incoherently, flung the door open, and bolted out of the store.


End file.
